The first day of a new school year and the bustle of children, parents, and teachers fill the empty hallways. The smell of the plastic from the new backpacks, the unbroken crayons, the freshly sharpened pencils, and everything all tidy and organized. There will be tears, smiles, and hearts pounding as though they may bursts. Remember those days as a child and the many questions that raced through your mind almost as quickly as your heart was beating…what would my teacher be like?…will she like me?…who’s in my class?…will the work be too hard?…will everyone like me? Sometimes as teachers we all to soon forget about life and the excitement of children returning to school. Not that we mean to, it is just that we get into such a routine that things slip by us as just day to day, when to others the things that happen on the first day of school are so important that it is recorded with video, photos, and even writings. We are privileged to have the job that we do, parents allow us to take their children each day and help to teach and mold them into adults. These children come from parents that believe that their child is the most special child at our school, and why would they believe any less? I heard someone once say that when we get our class lists that we should look at it with the eyes of Jesus and not with what we already know about each child’s past. I do not think Jesus would think about how each child behaved last year…He would probable think about giving them a hug to welcome them back to school. All children are not the same and neither are we…God blessed us this way. Some children almost seem impossible to love, but if loving everyone was easy, God would not have had to command us to love one another. And while most children are very much loved by their families, sadly there are a few who are not, sometimes these are the hardest children to love, but they are also the ones that God intends for us to love the most. I used to wonder how some of these children made it through childhood…I would think about how much I pray for my own children and who would pray for them? I now realize that it has to be the hand of God who keeps these children, yet it is my responsibility as a child of God to pray for them also. So as the day gets underway take a quick minute to say a little prayer for those children who brightened your doorway and hug each child sometime throughout the day…you may never know what a little prayer and a hug may do for the life of that child.
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